History[]
by Mike McMahon from Junk-Yard Demon
Originally from Earth's twin planet, Mondas, the Cybermen were once human but gradually replaced much of their bodies with cybernetic parts in order to survive when Mondas was thrown out of orbit and drifted away from the Sun, also eliminating the "weakness" of emotion from their brains. Mondas eventually returned but was destroyed during an attempted attack on earth; however, other factions of Cybermen had already spread out across the stars and have remained a threat ever since, continually upgrading themselves, their one goal to survive at any cost by converting others into creatures like themselves. They have frequently been opposed by the Time Lord known as The Doctor.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Some later models can instantaneously upgrade themselves in order to adapt to an enemy's strategy.
Strength level
Superhuman.
Weaknesses
Various weaknesses affect various different models, including gold dust (which clogs their systems), radiation, and certain chemical compounds which dissolve their plastic lungs. The Mondasian Cybermen were destroyed when Mondas exploded as they drew their power directly from their planet. They also tend to be vulnerable to their own weaponry. In most cases, their primary weakness is their remaining organic components. They can also be crippled by having emotional responses reintroduced into their systems, as they become incapable of coping with the horror of their own cybernised existence.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
Cybermats (small bitey things like giant silverfish that can drain power and channel it to their masters).
Transportation
Cyberships.
Weapons
Various, some built-in. Some early models could project electrical bolts from the chest units, hands, or the lamplike structure on their heads. Later models carried guns or in some cases had guns built into their arms.
Notes[]
The Cybermen originated in the TV series Doctor Who and first appeared in a Doctor Who comic strip in TV Comic in 1967, just a week after the conclusion of the TV story Tomb of the Cybermen (though artist John Canning had only been provided with photographic reference of the original 1966 models, so these were the only ones TV Comic ever featured). They appeared in no less than nine stories in TV Comic and its associated publications between 1967 and 1970, reflecting their huge popularity at the time, and have since reappeared in various forms in subsequent Who related publications including Doctor Who Magazine (which at one point even gave them their own continuing solo strip), Doctor Who-Battles in Time and the Doctor Who strip in the Radio Times. Probably their most famous representative in comics, though, is Kroton the Cyberman, who first appeared in Doctor Who Weekly #5 to #7 in the story Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman and later reappeared several times, ending up as a companion of the eighth incarnation of the Doctor for a while.
Trivia[]
- One particularly odd story in Doctor Who Magazine, by Grant Morrison, tried to assert that the Cybermen were originally the alien Voord from the TV story The Keys of Marinus, Mondas having been Marinus all along. This is not generally regarded as the definitive account of their origins, however. Or even close (but it did, rather satisfyingly, get referenced by the twelfth Doctor in the 2017 TV story The Doctor Falls). According to the Time Lords in this story, the Cybermen will one day evolve into non corporeal beings and become the most peaceful and benevolent race in the universe, which seems a little unlikely.
- Scrap dealers Flotsam and Jetsam had a lucrative sideline selling reprogrammed Cybermen as robot butlers, bus conductors and politicians: "the jobs that require no intelligent thought."
Links[]
- Appearances of Cybermen
- Character Gallery: Cybermen
- Images that feature Cybermen
- Fan-Art Gallery: Cybermen
- Cybermen quotations